Valerie Trip
by DannyFenton123
Summary: Reality Trip, I believe, had a lot of wasted potential. Forget the Guys in White; prepare yourself for your favourite Red Huntress! Part of a series of story ideas. If you liked it, let me know so I can see which ones you guys would like me to write more of!
1. Late For School

**This is part of a series of story ideas that I think would be fun to extend into a multi-chaptered fanfiction. If you want me to continue writing one of them, let me know and I will! :D**

 **Enjoy!**

"Late?" Valerie summoned her red huntress gear, opened the window, and jumped out. She fell towards the ground, but at the last second, her board caught her and she went zooming towards school.

The new upgrade was still quite refreshing to Valerie. Not only could she finally continue ghost hunting, but this thing was _fast_. Really fast. She'd gone up into space at top speed, but even cruising along the buildings whizzed past her in a blur. It wasn't uncontrollable, though; a slight adjustment was all that was required to pull up in a complete stop.

In the edge of her field of vision, Valerie spotted a familiar black-and-white glowing figure speeding along at around the same rate as her. A smirk appeared on her face.

One thing even better about the speed, she thought, was the weapons. Valerie momentarily turned and aimed at Danny Phantom, shooting a laser from her board. It caught the ghost completely off guard and sent him tumbling down into the buildings.

"Hah!" Valerie continued on her way; the satisfaction was, for today, enough. "He didn't even see me coming!"

She landed in the back of Caspar High, changed back into her usual attire, and entered the school a few minutes earlier than the bell. Noticing this, Valerie decided to walk over to Danny's locker.

"Hey Danny-" Valerie started to wave, but then she stopped. "Whoa. Are you okay? You look..."

Danny's hair was rather messy, and there were little holes in his clothes. He had a large black eye and plenty of scratches on one side of his body. "Like I just got shot out of the sky with a laser?" Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I, uh, tripped."

"And got a black eye?" The second Valerie pointed that out; she began to think that actually, he wasn't looking too bad. He was still quite cut up but maybe he could well have tripped.

Danny blinked. "I've... gotta go to class! Bye, Val!"

"See you at the Dumpty Humpty Concert!" Valerie called, smiling. It was because of Danny that she didn't have to settle for the discount seats, after all.


	2. Bombshell Dropped

"You're going to a space program?" Valerie and Danny walked out of school together.

"In Cape Carnival." Danny grinned. "And then we're going to Tucker's thing in San Diego and Gothapalooza in Nevada."

"That sounds awesome!" Valerie remembered something. "I think it was five years ago, but my parents took me to Switzerland to ski... the resort was called Verbier."

"Oh, cool!" Danny nudged his friend with a cheeky grin. "Sounds pretty fancy."

"I imagine it was, knowing all the places we used to go." Valerie rolled her eyes. "I don't remember much, but there was snow piled up as tall as me!"

"Wow." Danny was impressed. He then noticed Sam and Tucker waving him over. "Oh, I've got to go, Val. I'll see you at the Dumpty Humpty concert!"

"Bye, Danny!" Valerie waved him off until he was walking away with his friends. She smiled to herself before walking in the opposite direction, to the back of school. There, Valerie got herself into her ghost hunting gear and flew back home.

~Line Break~

Valerie was the first to arrive of the four - ten minutes early to avoid the massive crowd - at the Dumpty Humpty concert. They actually had a pretty good view of the stage, which was awesome. Much better than standing up at the front and being splattered with the- well, suffice to say there was a reason that area was sold at such a discount.

She checked her watch, which not only told the time to the second but also started buzzing if there was any sign of ghostly activity. It was silent, and revealed to her that she still had seven minutes before she should begin to worry about her friends.

They should really get in well before the crowd starts to pile onto the seats, Valerie thought. Last year was a nightmare.

Having nothing to do and nobody to talk to, Valerie drifted off, and was woken only by the sensation of her watch buzzing. With lightning reactions, the ghost hunter woke and switched off the alarm. Valerie stood up, but immediately realised that in the time she was out, the massive crowd had arrived and there was no way she was going anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. If a, attack was going to occur, unfortunately, she'd just have to wait for it to find her.

"Hey, Val!" A voice from behind Valerie startled her; she turned around to see Danny, Sam and Tucker in their seats. Danny, strangely enough, looked fairly roughed up and Sam was reading a book. Danny flashed her a nervous smile from the seat nearest to hers. "Are... are you okay?"

Her watch buzzed for a second and stopped; the sign that any ghosts had left the area. "Oh, yeah." Valerie sat down again. "You just startled me; how did you get up here so fast in this crowd?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh... we're..."

"Friends with one of the bodyguards!" Tucker supplied. "He's my uncle."

Valerie frowned. Something was inherently _not right_ about this situation, and it wasn't the fact that Tucker had a tough guy in his family. However, she ignored her instinct (conveniently forgetting that whenever she did ignore the hairs raising on her back, something was bound to go wrong) and shrugged it off.

"Oh, cool." Valerie sat back down. "You're kind of late, so the show should start any minute now."

"Sorry about that." Danny pulled a face, but Valerie reached over and took his hand.

"Hey. I told you, it's okay." His hand was surprisingly cold, which startled her. "Wow, Danny, do you need a jacket or something?" Valerie put both of her hands over Danny's. "You feel almost hypothermic!"

"I'm good." Danny withdrew his hands, grinned awkwardly, and rubbed them both together. "Bad circulation. It runs in the family."

"Hmm." Valerie found that interesting. It was then that the lights began to dim. A large egg began to rise up from a hole in the stage; that was where the band would 'hatch out' of.

A low roar of cheering and applause started up.

"Hey, look!" Danny leaned forwards in his seat. "It's starting!"

Valerie rolled her eyes. "I hope you aren't one of those people who talk all the way through everything."

Danny didn't respond. He was already very engrossed in what was happening, which Valerie took for a good enough answer.

However, the egg, instead of breaking up into a dozen little shards, appeared to deflate a little, sagging forwards. At the same time, Valerie's watch buzzed once more.

Her stomach clenched. She looked at Danny, who stared back at her with a worried expression. He appeared to be as aware as her that something was wrong; how, she'd have to find out later.

A loud growling sound came from the stage. The egg grew two red eyes, cracked itself boiled-egg style across the top and vomited the band – along with egg white and yolk – onto the wood. The four members lay there coughing on the ground, and the crowd gasped.

A pale man appeared on the stage. He was bald, but wore quite fancy clothes... including a strange glove.

"Ha, ha!" The man laughed. "Are you enjoying the show, kids? Unfortunately, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, so _I'll_ be your entertainer for tonight!"

Valerie suddenly saw a strange hooded ghost fly towards them, grabbing Sam and Tucker from their seats. She looked over to make sure that Danny was okay... but he was gone.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "This guy wants to mess with my friends? He's gonna get the-"

It was then that a belt magically appeared and strapped Valerie down to her chair. Try as she might, she could not free herself.

If she'd known this was going to happen, Valerie would totally have gone for the discount seats.

"That's better. The only thing better than an audience, is a captive audience!" The man suddenly was interrupted by a familiar white-haired figure.

"Hey Freakshow. Let everyone go!"

"Au contraire." The man, who had to have been called Freakshow, responded. "That's French for: I'll bet this hurts!"

She watched Freakshow turn the drums on stage into a sort of spider, using the mysterious glove, and the two battled it out. Sam and Tucker managed to get themselves free, and in a series of events the four ended up floating up in the sky, out of view of the audience.

As Valerie sat there helplessly, she began hoping for the first time in her life that the hated Danny Phantom would win this one. After the sound of a large explosion, Freakshow fell back to Earth, but the hooded ghost managed to keep him from smashing his face into the ground. The two of them flew off, and the belt restraining Valerie was lifted.

Then, Danny Phantom crash-landed in the centre of the stage. Valerie was considering going after him and interrogating him, but as he picked himself up, something strange happened.

Two white rings appeared around his waist; one went up his body, the other down. Where it crossed over the jumpsuit, it revealed a t-shirt and jeans. Where it crossed over the face, the tanned skin paled, the green eyes turned blue, the glow faded out and the white hair darkened to a raven black.

Valerie stared in shock. That was the face she knew as a dear friend. That was Danny Fenton, the goofy, gentle soul she always felt accepted with. The listener she could tell anything to, the shoulder she could cry on.

But that shoulder also belonged to a glowing jumpsuit. Those ears were so good, because they belonged to a superhuman ghost. Valerie saw now there was nothing gentle about that soul; it was all an act. It was all a lie. Her world had turned upside-down.

Because she saw the irrefutable evidence with her own eyes.

Because Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom.


	3. Valerie Betrayed

**I'm sorry if the chapters occasionally drop below the 1,000 word marker; it can be tricky at times to meet it during schooltimes.**

 **Regardless, I hope you enjoy! :D**

Danny stared into the crowd. "Uh, nobody saw that, right?"

The crowd started to walk towards him, every face a picture of complete shock. The TV cameras in the helicopters floated a little closer, to get a better look at the ghost boy that was going to be on the face of every national newspaper come tomorrow.

Somebody pinched Danny's arm from behind him, probably checking if he was tangible. Danny withdrew his arm sharply, backed away... backed up into a wall. Still the crowd advanced.

"Hey!" Tucker and Sam jumped up, one brandishing a music stand and the other spinning a microphone's wire in a whip above her head.

Sam leaned back a little. "I suppose, it could be worse?" She spoke in a tone that suggested otherwise. Danny's eyebrows creased into a frown.

"Really? How?"

A pink bolt streaked out from almost nowhere, and Danny saw Valerie floating above them with a large blaster. The crowd retreated.

"Danny Phantom!" Valerie shouted. "Or, should I say, Danny Fenton! Your time is up!"

Danny opened his mouth to reply, but Sam shoved him from the back. "You're not going to convince her of anything right now. Go!"

Danny transformed into his ghost form, and streaked past Valerie with his friends in tow. The crowd cheered.

"Wow," Tucker looked down. "You're famous, dude!"

Danny didn't reply. It was at that point that he came to a complete stop, reverted back to his human form, and fell back onto the stage. "I didn't... mean to do that. The Reality Gauntlet must have messed with my ghost form!"

A green laser dot appeared on Danny's foot. Somewhat dazed, he watched it travel up his body to right between his eyes. Danny ducked just as Valerie fired, and looked around desperately for an escape.

Sam pushed Danny into the crowd. "Mosh pit!" The three were carried off by the crowd for a little, then ducked under and crawled out at the end. Danny, Sam and Tucker ran into the woods, the sound of a hover board hot on their tail.

Danny caught sight of Valerie's red form flying low towards the ground, and he pulled his friends up against as sort of wood cabin. With a sinking feeling, he realised that wasn't enough; Valerie was still going to pick them out.

It was then that the door opened, dragged the trio inside and shut the door. Valerie passed them by.

The lights came on in the cabin. Dash, Kwan, Star and Paulina were standing in what looked to be an outdoor public bathroom.

"What?" Danny frowned. "I don't understand. You're helping us?"

"Well, you helped us so many times," Dash started. "So we're returning the favour."

"Paulina Fenton..." Paulina grinned. "I think that name is beginning to grow on me!"

"Really?" Danny blushed. Sam crossed her arms.

"Do you know who that Red Huntress is anyway?" Kwan asked, punching his fists together. "Because, if he's, like, in the school, we can make sure he'll never want to go there again!"

"Oh?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "As a matter of fact, it's Va-"

"Somebody we don't know!" Danny interjected quickly, then paused and spoke in a calmer tone. "I mean, we've been trying to find out her identity since day one."

"So," Tucker started. "How exactly are we going to get out of here?"

~Line Break~

Valerie kept her blaster primed all the time she was searching through the forest. She tried to focus on the steady, soft warning bleep the gun made when safety was turned off; it helped to take her mind off the thudding beat of her heart, her ragged breath and, most importantly, her rioting thoughts.

Because Danny Fenton was the same ghost who had tried to blast her into oblivion, the same ghost who left her in space to die, whilst Danny Phantom was the same boy who took over her shift as the Nasty Burger sign holder, the same boy who she had considered to be her best friend.

They were one and the same.

That was what she couldn't bear. Her heart was being put through a shredder; had she ever really had any friends at all? Dash, Paulina and the rest of the A-listers were only there when she was rich, Sam and Tucker had never really liked her all that much (For, she now realised, obvious reasons). But Danny? She genuinely thought that they were friends, but it was blatantly clear to her now that he, a violent ghost in a clever disguise, only had ulterior motives.

Danny would pay for this betrayal, Valerie swore, the ragged red veil still burning at the edges of her vision

So she kept her trigger finger squeezed against the death lever, a heartbeat away from firing.


	4. SRABBD

Five figures dressed in football gear shuffled nervously across the forest, in front of Valerie. Two people, one in the front and the other in the back, had their faces uncovered: Dash and Paulina. In the middle was the school mascot, another footballer with a large helmet over his head, and a cheerleader with pompoms over her head.

Valerie frowned suspiciously, drifting a little closer on her hoverboard for a better look. As she watched, the school mascot tripped on something on the ground and went flying, the raven mascot head coming right off.

It was Tucker. Valerie saw the cheerleader drop the pompoms to go help up Tucker, her black hair and violet eyes clearly revealing her to be Sam.

Which meant that the footballer with the helmet could only be one person. Valerie fired at Danny, but the shot bounced off the metal surface of the helmet, coming straight for her. She had to dodge out of the way, but by the time she'd come back to shoot again, the group, including the pompoms, was gone.

There was only one place Danny would be running to, and she knew just what to do to make him talk.

~Line Break~

"It's all dirty!" Paulina was shrieking at Sam, holding two spotless pompoms. "If I ever see you dropping my pompoms in a life-or-death situation again..."

"We're here." Dash interrupted, pulling back a bush to reveal Danny's house. "It's the fastest way from the stadium to Fenton's."

"So that's how you always catch me and wail on me." Danny spoke out loud, but immediately regretted his words. Dash cringed.

"Yeah," Dash admitted. "You know, we never realised you were such a hero, Fenton."

"Hey," Sam interrupted. "I'd love to stay and see Dash drown in guilt, but we have an angry huntress on our tails."

"You're right." Danny waved at the A-listers. "Thank you for all of your help!"

"Bye, Danny!" Paulina blew a kiss, then pointed a manicured nail at Sam. "And don't you forget to clean my kit! It's handwash only!"

"Yeah, yeah." Sam, Tucker and Danny darted across to Fentonworks. Danny took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.

Nobody answered. Tucker moved the handle, and the door swung open.

"It's unlocked?" Danny frowned as they entered the dark living room. "That's strange. Mom and Dad usually never leave the door open."

"Today isn't exactly usual, dude." Tucker commented. "Hey, is anybody home?"

"It's probably a good thing nobody is." Danny patted the opposite wall, looking for a light switch. "At least I'll get to see my room again before I get torn apart molecule by molecule."

It was then that, at the far corner of the living room, one could hear an unusual _tthbt_ noise. At the same time, Danny yelped and fell on the floor, holding the back of his leg.

"Danny!" Sam dropped to one knee and pried her friend's hand off his leg. Right in the centre of his right calf muscle, punched through his jeans was a hornet-sized red dart.

"Bulls-eye!" Valerie emerged from the shadows, stashing away a short black blowgun. "Do you like my new weapon? Short-range wireless blood blossom darts."

Tucker frowned. "That's a mouthful. And it doesn't even have a cool acronym. SRABBD? Wait, that kind of works."

"Tucker..." Sam warned. Danny was still writhing in pain on the floor.

"Shut up!" Valerie snapped, pointing a blaster at Sam. "Move away from the ghost."

"Danny's not just a-" Sam started to argue, but upon seeing the barrel begin to whirr and glow pink, she backed up against a curtain, suddenly stopping when she felt a small rectangular bump in the wall.

"Not just a ghost?" Valerie's glare intensified. "No, he's not. He's a manipulative liar as well! He may have you two fooled, but he's not using me anymore."

Sam looked under the curtain, where she saw a red button surrounded by glass, clearly labelled:

 **Fenton Works Anti-Creep Mode**

"What... what are you doing?" Tucker was asking nervously as Valerie brought out a new, longer, sniper-like gun and aimed it from her shoulder at the helpless Danny. "You're not giving him a chance to explain his side of the story?"

"Why should I?" Valerie shot back. "There's no other side to be told."

"You can't do that!" Tucker protested.

"What, are you going to stop me?" Valerie lowered the gun for a second, scowling at Tucker.

"We can't," Sam bluffed, breaking the glass of the Anti-Creep Mode button. "But this can!"

She smashed the button, hoping that it wasn't just a dud invention. It looked promising, though, when the red lights started flashing.

"What did you do!" Valerie swung the gun to point at Sam, who held her hands up. "Turn it off!"

Jack's voice came on the speakers.

 **FENTONWORKS ANTI-CREEP MODE ACTIVATED. OUR SPECIAL TODAY IS FUDGE- I MEAN, PAIN!**

Before Valerie could react, a large thin silver slab, careening from the side of one of the walls, sliced off the last few inches of her rifle's barrel. She stared in shock, allowing time for a thick board shaped and coloured like Jack to jump up from the floor and smack her straight through the kitchen door, out of sight.

Danny sighed, and the tension in his body eased.

"Short range wireless..." Sam breathed. "Tucker! There's something on the suit that's activating the blood blossom dart, but the range must be only a few feet. Can you hack it?"

"You think I haven't tried to hack her suit before?" Tucker frowned, pulling out his PDA. "I can try, but it'll take me a while."

"Or," Danny had jumped up from behind them. "We go, right now." He transformed into a ghost, but quickly reverted when an arsenal of guns targeted his ecto-signature. "Anti-Creep Mode, right. Targets everything with ectoplasm in it."

Valerie appeared at the kitchen door, her visor cracked and her face a picture of fury. Danny flinched, expecting another assault of excruciating pain, but it became apparent after a second that she was still not in range. Danny backed away, grabbed Sam and Tucker and dragged the two of them up the stairs.

"Phantom!" Valerie shouted, starting after them, but a mass of metal tentacles with grabbing arms forced her out of the door. The trio continued.

"Just where are we going with this, Danny?" Sam queried.

"The OPS centre." Danny his friends reached the top and climbed up. "Press something, anything! We need to lose her before anything else."

As Valerie, fitted with a new visor, flew up the outside, she frowned quizzically as the top of Fenton works began to undergo some changes. Confetti burst out of the top, then a disco ball appeared at the top. After that, the top began to blow up into... a blimp? A blimp with Jack's face on it.

She sped up, and hovered in front of a window Tucker was at. He jumped as she smashed the window, and pressed a button. The window flipped into a metal cover with Jack's face on it. Valerie punched that too, creating a satisfying dent in the armour.

"She's getting through!" Tucker pressed one big, neon green button, and recoiled in shock as his ears were assaulted with the most awfully loud cacophony:

 _HAVE NO FEAR, THE FENTONS ARE ON PATROL_!

"Ugh, nice one finding the car horn, Tuck!" Danny made a face, shaking the ringing out of his ears then looking out of the flaps of one of the metal covers. He could perceive a red figure falling to Earth. "I guess it was good for something though; Valerie's out for the moment. I gotta..."

Danny opened the fridge, looked to the right and pressed a button. The blimp transformed into a streamlined aircraft, slowly falling now to the ground. He dashed back to the front and smashed the autopilot, and an inflatable Jack popped up on the seat. The craft stabilised.

"Wow, dude." Tucker commented. "Why did you tell us to push random buttons if you knew where those were the whole time?"

"One of those buttons was the auto defence." Danny panted. "I needed to get her off our tail."

"Hate to break it to you Danny," Sam started. "But she's catching up to us."

"Only one more trick to pull, then!" Danny went ghost, pressed his hands against the ship and turned the whole thing invisible.

Valerie slowed as the vehicle suddenly winked out of sight. She frowned.

"Have it your way, then." Valerie took out her phone, and connected it to her suit. Using the visor, she was able to track Danny's cell phone. "You can run, ghost, but you can't hide from me forever!"


	5. The Government Intervenes

"Danny!" Sam tried to catch her friend's attention as they exited the Amity Park area. "Danny, we've lost Valerie. You can, you can stop now."

Danny didn't answer, from wherever he was standing; Sam couldn't tell. She crossed her arms.

"Danny, you're only going to wear yourself out. And... look at Tucker!"

Tucker's face was almost completely green, as a result of too much looking down inside a flying invisible vehicle. He squinted at her and shook his head.

"On second thoughts, don't." Sam made a face. "But seriously, you can stop now."

She thought it wasn't going to work for a second, but noticed the vehicle was beginning to fade back into the visible spectrum. Tucker gasped happily and made a run for the toilets, which were for some reason, very difficult to utilise when invisible.

The form of a boy appeared near the left window. Danny sank to his knees and reverted back into human form, saying nothing.

After a suspenseful few seconds, Sam walked over to Danny, sat down next to him on the floor, and put her arm around her friend's shoulders. He was gazing into the clouds with a thousand-yard stare, a slight frown creasing his face.

"Hey," Sam tried for a smile, waving her arm in front of Danny's dazed vision. He blinked but otherwise didn't react. "You know, we lost Valerie. You don't need to keep watching out for her!"

"That's not my problem." Danny spoke at length. "Did you see the way she was looking at me? And all the stuff she said... It makes complete sense from her point of view." He paused. "She thinks I used her."

"Hey," Sam playfully punched her friend on the arm. "You still have us! I mean, who likes Valerie anyway?"

Danny blinked at Sam. "You're not helping, Sam. Valerie's my friend."

"Uh, sorry." Sam's cheeks reddened. "Standard question."

"Yeah." Danny opened his mouth again, but all of a sudden a most repugnant smell drifted in from the back of the room. He wrinkled his nose and stood up. "Please don't tell me that's-"

"I think I blocked the toilet!" Tucker's voice called out. Sam rolled her eyes. "It's all green, and I think it's rising-"

"Don't want to hear about it!" Danny quickly interjected, gagging and pinching his nose. It was then that the screen at the front of the airship began to flash urgently.

~Line Break~

Valerie had camped out in the wilderness as night fell. She could continue in the morning, but for now, she was hungry, and she was tired.

After making a small fire in the middle of a clearing and setting up camp from her deus-ex-machia-like kit of useful gadgets, she sat down, leaning against her tent, and took off her visor. The sun was just beginning to set; it was a flat field, and the orange light cast on the clouds was stunning to see.

That was, if you were looking. Valerie overlooked a beautiful view, but she fought an ugly battle in her head, oblivious to the outside world until her phone buzzed.

It had been buzzing all morning, but she had been too riled up to pay attention until now. Valerie dug out her phone, an old keypad brick with a tiny screen.

 _13 missed calls and 11 new messages from Daddy._

Valerie's face whitened. Daddy! How could she have forgotten about her father? She quickly unlocked her phone and scrolled to the beginning of the messages, reading with a heavier and heavier heart.

 _Baby girl, are you okay? I just saw the news._

 _Valerie? I'll call._

 _Valerie, answer me. Where are you? I hope you are safe._

 _Don't go chasing after Danny. Ghost hunting is far too dangerous._

 _Come home right now. It's late._

 _Valerie, I know you can read this. Don't be silly, come home._

 _Come home right now! This isn't a game. You could get really hurt._

 _I've got some chicken noodle soup on the stove. Sure would be a shame to eat it alone._

 _You're coming home tomorrow, right? You're safe?_

 _Are you even getting my texts? I called so many times but you aren't picking up, and you certainly aren't answering my texts. How am I supposed to know if you're safe or not?_

And one final text, much later than the others.

 _Valerie, if you are receiving my texts, I just want you to tell me that you're safe. I can't stop you from ghost hunting but I'd just like to know that my baby girl is okay. Come home soon._

Valerie hesitated, before texting out a reply. She didn't want to call, not yet.

 _I'm fine._

Almost immediately, there was a reply.

 _All that trouble, and you give me two words? You've had your phone all day and haven't contacted me once. You'd better come home now, Valerie Grey!_

Valerie was just about to chuck her phone into the campfire when a thought occurred to her... could she really just go home? Forget about Danny; whatever he was doing, he wasn't in Amity Park anymore. He wasn't her problem anymore.

She could just forget about him. After this incident, her father would make sure that she'd never have to see ghost again, nor a trace of the quirky Fentons to which Danny belonged. It was only Danny that Valerie held a grudge against, without him, she could just be... normal.

However, her phone began to ring, interrupting her inner dialogue. She expected her Dad's name to show up, but it was a withheld number.

Interesting. Under normal circumstances, Valerie would simply let these numbers run out; she didn't talk to strangers, and nobody she knew kept their number anonymous. But these were not normal circumstances.

"Hello?" Valerie picked up the phone.

"We are talking to Miss Valerie Grey, am I correct?" It was the voice of a rather official, older man. Valerie frowned.

"Yeah... and what's that to you?"

"What we are telling you is confidential information, for your ears only." The man monotoned. "It's about the half-ghost specimen Danny Phantom."

Now, this piqued Valerie's curiosity. "What do you want to tell me?"

"We are the Guys in White," The man started. "A highly trained, highly confidential government organisation that deals with ectoplasmic entities."

Valerie was still suspicious. "Yeah? And I'm a regular citizen of Amity Park. What do you need me for?"

"Oh, you are?" The man sounded surprised. "Uh... hold for a second... _Code 56! Code 56! Mindwipe serum to be administered to_ -"

"No, you dummy!" Valerie snapped. "You want the Red Huntress? I'm the Red Huntress, and you're going to tell me what you know about Danny. What were you saying about a half-ghost?"

"Oh, we... knew that." Valerie could just see the man blushing at his desk. Some secret agent. "Well, we require your assistance, in capturing this Danny Phantom."

"Wait a second," Perhaps it was due to how rough a day Valerie had, but she was very much riled up. "You're the 'highly trained, highly confidential' government guys. Why don't you catch them yourself?"

"We have... an issue with that." The man replied. "Our boss is on vacation, and without him, we cannot file the necessary paperwork to authorise a capture. But, he still expects me to get this done, and if the situation is still uncontained-"

"You can't file the necessary-" Valerie took a deep breath. "I'm not doing this for you guys. This is too shady for me."

"You can't decline us!" The man protested. "We're the government!"

"What makes you think I can't?" Valerie's hand went to the red phone icon.

"Wait! Our records show that your family is poor." There were typing sounds going on in the background. "You live with your father. Your mother passed away because of-"

"Yes?" Valerie interrupted. Having her personal information read aloud was invasive enough, but _that_ wasn't something she was willing to hear recounted.

"We pay well." The man bargained. "We're the government. You can... you can go and buy some clothes with that!"

Valerie's eyebrows drooped. "Yeah. Sure. Drop it, I'm not-"

"And your dad?" The man's voice hardened. "We can have him taken in at any time we want."

Valerie froze. "Oh, you wouldn't dare."

"We're the government, Miss Grey." The man repeated. "I apologise, but we need to do what's best for my job- I mean, the people. Bring the half ghost in to us, and nothing bad will happen."

Valerie did not answer.

"Miss Grey?"

"I'll do your stupid mission." Valerie spat. "But I'll get you back for this."

Valerie slammed the phone shut, put on her visor, and left the camp without clearing up.

There were more important things at the moment than sleep.


	6. To the Space Station

The SRABBD dart Valerie had shot at Danny had long been removed, but there was still a lingering weird feeling in the muscle. The three didn't trust the remains of the device not to fire up again when Valerie got in range, so it was agreed that the best course of action was simply to avoid another battle. They set a course for the red gem, which the three had located in Cape Carnival, Florida.

They kept an anxious eye out for Valerie, but there was not a hint of the Red Huntress all day. Tucker once caused a scare when he suddenly screamed whilst looking out of the window, but that was merely because he had spied an all-you-can eat buffet.

"Sorry, dude." Danny crossed his arms. "Our face is on every newspaper all over the world. Who in their right minds would write us walking into a restaurant and expecting to be served without the police being immediately called?"

Tucker slunk down in his chair. "I suppose you're right."

"I-I think there's some rations stored somewhere in the back." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "You know, if you're hungry. But-"

"Like, space rations?" Tucker jumped up. "All those ice cream flavours? Sweet, I call the mint!"

"I wouldn't eat the-" Danny trailed off as his friend darted out of earshot. "-green ones. Those aren't mint."

"I'm sure he'll find that out soon enough." Sam spoke from one of the windows on the other side.

"Yeah." Danny rubbed the back of his neck for a second, before recognising his nervous habit and shoving his hands in his jean pockets. "Um, see anything?"

Sam made a face. "Lots of grey clouds below us. I hope we brought an umbrella or something, because it's raining really hard."

"We won't stay long." Danny foreshadowed, and then cleared his throat. "What about, uh..."

"Valerie? Not a trace." Sam looked to the front. "We should be at the space station in a few minutes. Maybe there are some hills or something we can land behind."

Danny's eyebrows knitted together. "Of course not! Why would they build a _space station_ on anything other than completely flat ground?"

"Oh, sorry about that, Mr Astronaut!" Sam shot a glare at her friend. "Not everybody reads space books in the toilet."

"That incident? I-I was not reading, I just had it with me!"

"Open? On your lap?" Sam couldn't contain a grin. "You're going really red in the face."

Danny covered his flaming cheeks. "You don't, you don't know that! You're looking out the window!"

"I know you too well." Sam was about to say something else when there was a loud yell from the back. She jumped in shock before grabbing her blaster to deal with Valerie, but Danny caught her arm.

"I don't think that's Val." There was a sly grin on his face. "I think Tucker discovered the ectoplasm sandwich prototypes."

~Line Break~

It helped Valerie massively, being sent by the Guys in White. Instant access into the space station without screening, as opposed to sneaking in with her large arsenal and possibly getting blown to bits by whatever fancy technology they had around.

Not that she didn't hate those agents any less. Valerie intended to give full payback for the threat as soon as she completed this mission, but for now it was nice to have a little easier of a hunt after tracking them for miles, eventually hacking into their GPS and discovering their destination. After all of that, all that was left to do was to take an elevator and some stairs to the rooftop, and snipe them from there.

Unfortunately, the elevator was populated with tourists. They kept their distance from the huntress with the dark visor and large blaster, but one of the kids was very obviously giggling to his friend about how 'that strange man' had pink armour.

Valerie casually slipped off her mask, looking coolly into the distance. The chattering faded to a stunned silence, so she shifted her weight and replaced the visor back over her head.

Outside, it was raining quite hard. She worried that the sniper option might not be available if conditions got any worse, but she'd have to see when she got there. If worst came to worst, she could easily waste them in a fight.

"Ooh, what's this?" One of the kids caught her attention, and without moving her head she discreetly looked over to what was happening. Some blonde-haired boy had something red in his hand.

Blood? No, it was quite sparkly, and upon closer inspection appeared to be a faintly glowing gem - a ruby, namely. The ruby looked rather unusual, and she felt the hairs rising on the back of her neck.

Valerie leaned forwards, dropping the blaster to her side. "Hey, junior-"

"Ow! My hand!" The boy threw the ruby in her direction, shaking his hand like he had burnt it. Valerie did not hesitate to snatch it out of the air, bringing it up to her face to examine.

This was no ordinary ruby. It was glowing with power, its facets gleaming even in the limited light. And it was... smoking?

No, it was her suit that was smoking! Valerie yelped and quickly tossed the thing away as the burn reached through her suit and seared her hand. She did not hesitate to tear off the glove and examine the affected hand.

A deep red mark was blistering in the centre of her right palm, causing her a great deal of pain. Valerie looked past the shocked tourists, around the open-sided elevator, searching for some sort of cold water supply. After that, she could maybe call the hospital, and-

Her eye landed on three figures sprinting across one of the runways. Valerie instinctively tapped her visor, rapidly zooming in and focusing on the faces of Sam, Tucker and Danny.

Without thinking, Valerie quickly put her damaged glove back on, wincing at the pain. She grabbed the beam of an elevator and swung herself out into the rain. She was falling freely now but with a touch to the controls on her left wrist her hoverboard caught her inches from the ground. She rose a few feet, keeping an eye on the oblivious trio running straight in her direction.

Valerie drew out a blaster, but almost immediately dropped it on her hoverboard in pain, uttering some King Elfer's under her breath. She then retrieved the blaster and took shaky aim with her left hand.

 _For Daddy_ , Valerie thought as she squeezed the trigger. The resulting shot was way off target and only served to alert Danny and his friends to the danger. They skidded to a halt, and there was a flash of white light in the worsening storm.

"Surrender, Danny Phantom!" Valerie shouted. "Or I'll-"

It was then that a deafening roar started up, like a jet engine. The huntress took no heed, activating a voice amplifier on her suit to continue talking.

"Or I'll fight you! And you don't want it to come to that."

"Val!" There was a familiar shout. It sounded like Danny. "Watch out!"

"Don't you dare call me that!" Valerie snapped. "It's the end of the road for you, ghost boy. If you surrender now, I won't have to-"

Suddenly, the roaring noise grew much, much louder and before she knew it something had slammed into her side. She gripped tight around this smooth metal surface, staring into the glowing red 'eyes' and illuminated cockpit of a space shuttle. On one of the seats Valerie could clearly see the red gem which had burned her.

They were going faster and faster, and Valerie activated suction cups across her suit, taking the pressure off of her wounded right hand. She was able to relax for a second, but that feeling was cut short when the shuttle began taking off into the air.

So she had to take out this possessed shuttle, and then the ghost boy. After that, it would be a good idea to get some attention to her burnt hand.

So Valerie got to work.


	7. Shuttle Spar

"Valerie!" Danny shouted, taking off towards the renegade space shuttle. In the steadily worsening conditions, it was all but invisible save for the two jet engines. When he began to feel the heat on his face, he turned invisible so as to reduce exposure.

Danny hooked his hands on the edge of the craft, turned visible, and began to pull himself up. However, the shuttle suddenly twisted and his grip was broken. He caught up with the shuttle once more but once more he was not able to hang on.

Did the shuttle... feel him?

Danny had no time to consider as he saw two bright red lights careening towards him. He had no react as the shuttle hit him right in the abdomen with a wing before barrel rolling and slipping him off before he had time to grab hold of anything. Danny crashed to the ground, winded and dizzy.

"Dude!" Tucker was suddenly behind him, pulling him to a standing position before he was fully prepared. "Are you okay?"

Danny swayed, his entire world tilting and taking him with it. Before he fell over, however, he felt somebody else grab him.

Sam steadied her friend. "Whoa, clueless. Take a second to-"

The shuttle came out of nowhere; if not for the lightning reactions of Danny they would all have been flattened. The aircraft, which had retracted landing gear, skidded and sparked on the ground for a few seconds before somehow managing to take off again, blasting back out of sight.

"On second thoughts, don't take a second. That shuttle could be back any second!" Sam shoved her ghostly friend closer to the site of impact. "It's obviously one of those reality gems, probably the life one! If you take it out then it'll go back to normal!"

"Good luck, dude!"

"Thanks!" Danny flew up once more into the storm, where there was a low rumble of thunder starting up in the heavy rain. He might as well have been flying blind, but nevertheless he searched as well as he could.

It was then that an impressive lightning strike came into existence, illuminating the surrounding area for not quite a second. Danny could perceive the large, dark figure of a space shuttle with nose towards him, and he went intangible as the deafening roar of thunder followed.

After a few seconds, the same red lights appeared charging towards him, and he readied himself. The shuttle pierced through his intangible form, and just at that moment Danny reformed inside the spacecraft.

He immediately slammed into a door at the end of the corridor, permanently imprinting his face into the metal. Danny picked himself up and quickly made his way to the cockpit, where he assumed the gem to be.

Instead, he saw the form of a long-haired figure manning the controls. His gasp caused the pilot to turn, and he saw the surprised face of Valerie.

"Ghost boy." She spat, trying to cover her initial shock with anger. "How did you get on here?!"

"What are you doing here?" Danny tried to cover his initial shock with... well, nothing. "What about the gem thing... And why isn't your blood blossom thing hurting me?"

"That's none of your business!" Valerie drew a blaster and pointed it at his face with her left hand. She fired, but it only succeeded in burning a hole in the roof.

"Whoa." Danny cleared his throat. "I'm not complaining, but why are you using your left arm?"

"Shut up!" Valerie demanded, standing up from her chair and pointing it directly at Danny's chest. "I won't miss this time."

Danny blinked. Then he stepped to the side, twisting the blaster with his two hands down and towards his opponent. Valerie hung on with her one arm for as long as she could, but eventually she had to let go.

"What are you going to do, ghost scum?" Valerie held her hands up, but her expression betrayed no fear. "Are you finally going to do what you've wanted to do all along?"

"Val- Valerie, you've got it all wrong." Danny tossed the blaster behind his back. "I just need the Gem of Life, and then I promise I'll leave you alone."

Valerie was caught completely off guard. She put her hand on a purple-coloured thermos "What? What are you doing?"

"I don't want to hurt you." Danny insisted, then his eyes drifted to the windows at the front of the cockpit. "Wait-"

"You mean you want a fair fight?" Valerie's scowl was returning. "Oh, you noble thing. I'll tell you right now that I don't do-"

In the middle of her dialogue, Danny suddenly barged past her, and sat himself down in one of the chairs. "Sorry, Val!"

" _How dare you_ -" That was when Valerie also looked out of the window, and saw the ground rushing rapidly up to meet them. Danny was pulling at the important-looking controls as hard as he could.

"Yeah, right." Valerie crossed her arms. "What do you think that's going to do?"

The space craft slowly stabilised, and with the push of a button the landing gear opened back up. The shuttle bounced once on the runway before settling properly down and beginning to lose speed.

"Phew." Danny reclined on the chair. "We're-"

His foot accidentally pressed a button, and the spacecraft suddenly jolted downwards, beginning an awful screeching sound but slowing down considerably faster. They eventually halted, and the shuttle tilted noticeably to the side.

"Uhh, I didn't mean to do that. But at least we landed safely, right Valerie?"

Danny turned to look at the huntress, but she had already retrieved her blaster and was pointing it at him. The ghost boy's eyes went straight to her purple thermos.

"Hands in the air!" Valerie barked, but before she could do anything Danny's hand shot out and grabbed the thermos. She fired but he went invisible, making off with the Gem of Life.

As soon as she realised he was gone, Valerie growled and threw the blaster to the ground. She kicked the bottom of the pilot's seat, and then punched one of the side walls. This abuse of the poor little shuttle caused an airbag to inflate and catch her right in the face.


	8. Gothapalooza Altered

Valerie discovered to her annoyance that Tucker had fixed the hack in their systems, so she could no longer predict their destination. She could only follow their ship, on and on without pause on her hoverboard. Yesterday anger had kept her legs from tiring, but now several hours into the chase they began to cramp up and she had no choice but to stop, touching down in the middle of a desert.

The sun was already quite set in the sky, and the sand was cold. Valerie, shivering, reached behind her and drew out a small pink package, which turned into a tent upon being laid on the ground. She looked around hopefully for some sticks or a tree to make a fire from and found plenty of weird shrubs.

Staggering over, Valerie reached down and grabbed the stem of one of the shrubs. She immediately recoiled as a burst of mild pain started up in her right palm. She looked at her hand and considered taking the glove off, but out of fear left it on and pulled up shrubs instead with her left. She lit a dim, smoky fire and sat herself against the tent, drinking from her self-moisturising water bottle and checking her phone for any sign of Damon.

Not a word from her father since the Guys in White had last called her. But that was okay, because as long as she was hunting Danny Phantom the Guys wouldn't dare do anything to him.

Even when she was close to the fire, Valerie felt a shiver travel up her spine. Her eyelids were drooping, so she crawled into the tent and fell asleep.

~Line Break~

"This is Gothapalooza?" Tucker shot a cheeky grin at Sam as the three of them touched down on a grassy green meadow filled with teddy bears. "The ultimate celebration of despair and darkness?"

"Shut up, Tucker!" Sam snapped, pressing her face to the window. The morning light only worsened the sickening sight of those grinning teddy bears. "This is the worst thing that has ever happened since Fenton Toast!"

"It can't be that bad, Sam." Danny pressed a button to lower the ramp. "They're actually kind of cute."

Sam crossed her arms. "My point exactly!"

Danny opened his mouth to reply when a deafening, happy cacophony of voices assaulted their ears:

" _WEEE LOOOOVE YOOOOOU_!" The teddy bears did not wait for the three to exit their ship; they stormed aboard, grabbed them by their ankles and carried them out into the open.

"Get off me!" Sam yelled in anger, swatting at the teddy bears to either side of her in vain.

" _You have to say 'please get off me'!_ "

"Sam, it's okay." Danny picked himself up, cradling one fuzzy bear like a baby in his arms. "Hey, uh, you guys wouldn't happen to have seen a gem around here?"

At the mention of a gem, all of the teddy bears began jumping up and down and cheering. One crawled onto Sam's back, to which she responded by grabbing it roughly by the stubby arm and dropping it on the floor in disgust.

"I'd take that as a yes, dude." Tucker grinned at Danny. "This'll be easy!"

"You betcha, Tuck." Danny addressed the crowd of teddies. "Can we have the gem?"

" _Say the magic word_!"

"Don't do it, Danny." Sam found another one hugging her leg and she grabbed it by the neck. The unfortunate bear let out a strangled gasp. "They're evil, I just know they are!"

Another bear tugged at Sam's skirt. "That's mean! Please will you let my friend go?"

"In your dreams, Tinky Winky."

Danny leaned further down, gently setting the bear he was holding on the floor. "Please can we have the gem?"

Out of nowhere, one of the bears produced a yellow gem and smiled as he held it out to Danny. "Say thank you!"

"Thank you!" Danny picked up the gem. "I have to admit, I thought something was going to go-"

There was a tearing sound off to the side, and all the teddies turned their heads. Their beaming faces somehow managed to warp into a horrified expression as they stared at Sam, who was holding the ripped-off head and body of a red teddy bear.

"Sam!" Danny hissed. "What are you doing?"

Sam tried for an apologetic grin. "Whoops?"

Meanwhile cries were going up among the teddy bear population.

"They killed Mandy Barestack!"

"Mandy?"

"Oh nose, Mandy!"

"Now who's going to sing for Black Sheep Grooms?"

"Okay, Sam." Danny started to back away. "We should get going..."

He found his path getting blocked by a menacing army of teddy bears. Looking around nervously, Danny saw his friends having the same problem.

"Danny!" Sam shouted. "Turn them all back into normal!"

An ominous, enthusiastic chant was starting up. " _Kill them all, kill them all, kill them all_..."

Danny stared at the yellow gem in his hand. "Uh, great advice, but how?"

" _Kill them all! Kill them all! Kill them ALL!_ "

"I dunno, just do something!" The teddy bear army was about ready to jump on her.

"Gem! I command you to make these teddy bears, um, go away!" Danny shut his eyes tightly and waved the yellow gem around in front of him.

" _KILL THEM ALL! KILL THEM ALL! KILL-_ "

The chant mysteriously stopped. Danny opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by much taller humans in very dark attire.

"Kill them all?" One Goth frowned. "Hey, what were we doing again?"

"Phew." Danny wiped his brow. "Now, the only problem is going to be getting Sam out of here."

That was when a pink blast rained down from above and struck their ship, causing a loud panic-inducing explosion. People fled screaming, and Danny went intangible to avoid being trampled. In the sky he perceived a single flying figure, blaster primed.

"Oh, great." Danny rubbed the back of his neck as he passed through the crowd towards the bathrooms.


	9. Alone With a Heavy Conscience

After spending so long honing her aim to a deadly perfection, it felt like a betrayal for Valerie to bring out the smart missiles. They were one of the few pieces of her arsenal that had gathered dust rather than scars, and she hoped that after this fight it would never be needed again.

Valerie aimed at the empty stage and fired at the centre, struggling to hold the large launcher. The minor burn on her right hand had stopped hurting at all by this point, all feeling replaced with a numb, stiff sensation that made it difficult to grip anything.

Nevertheless, the missile bent in the air and landed smack bang in the middle of the stage, causing a large pink explosion that sent the last of the innocents running from the ensuing battle. It hurt nobody, but if Danny Phantom was anywhere in the vicinity he'd surely come running now.

"Val!" Sure enough, his voice was behind her. She turned and saw the silver-haired ghost floating before her, a pinkish strap around his shoulder. "What are you doing? Somebody could get hurt!"

"You've got that right!" Valerie was about to fire, but she noticed a dark pink thermos attached to the end of the strap. "Is that my thermos you stole?"

Danny blinked. "Oh, this? Uhhh..."

Valerie shifted the cumbersome missile launcher to rest on her right should. "You'd better give it back, Phantom, before I make you!"

"Sorry Val, I'm using it!" Danny placed a hand on the pink strap, floating closer. "Can I give it back later?"

There was no verbal response from Valerie. Instead, holding a ghost shuriken in her left hand, she lashed out and slashed at Danny just below his collarbone and cut deep into the jumpsuit. The strap holding Valerie's thermos severed and began falling towards the ground before Valerie could grab it.

Danny, with a shellshocked expression on his face, traced his hand across the slash wound and stared at the green glowing blood on his glove. He looked past his hands into the dark visor that hid Valerie's eyes.

And they had never looked more human.

Valerie hesitated before firing the smart missile, her finger poised on the trigger. She remained there for a moment before slowly lowering it.

"Danny?"

Danny blinked, seemingly lost for words. "You... you..."

"Ah, it was an accident?" Valerie forced a smile, forgetting that she was concealed behind a mask. "I mean, I meant to slash you, but I didn't mean to _slash_ you. I mean, I didn't mean to slash you, I meant to slash the thermos. And you. But-"

"I don't believe you." The copious amounts of ectoplasm pouring from the wound already seemed to have stopped. "You just slashed me!"

"Oh yeah?" Valerie retorted, her anger flaring back up. "That's so awful that I slashed you after I've been hunting you this entire time, but what about the time you ruined my life! What about that time, ghost scum?!"

"That wasn't my fault!" Danny growled. He tensed up, crossing his arms across his already healed chest.

Underneath the mask, Valerie's cheeks were reddening. "Liar! You're a liar! You ruined my life, and then you pretended to be my friend! What, were you taking some sick ghostly pleasure from it or what?!"

"I was your friend, Valerie." Danny clenched his fists. "But not anymore!"

"You never were my friend!"

"You're not listening to me!"

"I've heard enough, Phantom. That Danny Fenton I once knew was just a lie." Valerie squared up to the ghost boy. "Face it. If I wasn't going to hunt you down, then I bet your mom and dad would."

Danny's expression was a mask, but his fiery cheeks and loud breaths betrayed his anger. "Go away, Valerie."

"Make me, Phantom."

"Go _away_!" Danny screamed, and Valerie found herself at ground zero for a brutal ghostly wail. It blasted her right back, driving her into the smoking remains of the Fenton with a killing force. Her helmet was torn off. Valerie felt one, two, three things in her body snap, followed immediately by a sharp pain in her side. The waves of sonic sound kept coming, and Valerie covered her ears and shut her eyes tight. That was why she was caught completely unawares when a large piece of metal shot out from the side and struck her right in the temple, knocking her almost comatose and covering her body completely from view.

Meanwhile, Danny's ghostly wail had died in his throat. He sank to the ground, reverting back to human form, breathing heavily. When his head ceased to so violently swim, he looked up.

And gasped. Complete desolation had been wrought upon Gothapalooza, so much that any semblance of its original setup was reduced to piles of junk. The very grass on the ground had been burned off to create a small, desolate, broken scrap yard.

Danny picked himself up and began walking towards the scrap piles. His footsteps were the only sound in the alien landscape.

He cleared his throat. "Valerie?"His voice echoed, but there was no response. "Sam? Tucker?"

Danny paused. Then: "Anyone? Is anybody here? Please?"

There was no answer. Danny's heart began to pound, and he sprinted the rest of the way to the piles of metal. Changing back to his ghost form, he began to frantically pull out large pieces of metal, throwing them behind him as he went.

The only thing he came across was Valerie's mask, the visor smashed and the fabric torn. Danny sank down to his knees, the full reality of the situation hitting him.

"What have I done?" Danny covered his mouth, staring all around him. He was alone in this wasteland that he had created. His friends were gone – possibly dead – because of him. Dead. Dead!

What was he going to do?

Danny's eyes scanned the wreckage one last time and something dark pink happened to catch his eye. It was the Thermos, and it still had the two gems in it!

There was only one gem left, and it was at Tucker's geek convention. He could still save his and his friends' families.

He stood up, casting a last glance at Valerie's battered visor. "I'm sorry, Val."

Then Danny upped and flew away.


End file.
